Dear Kadoka Area,
This week the topic of the Kougar Column is a safe and welcoming culture by giving everyone a seat at the table. It is an often- overlooked portion of your culture, passing (the short break when students are walking between classes) and lunchrooms, and how it sustains our growth towards our goals of 1% growth every day to a safe and welcoming place. Remember there isn’t one thing in our school that can make us better than our past in the infinite education game, but the little things in executing bring up the level of your staff and students to compete in the competition of education.
Giving everyone a seat at the table in your school starts in the lunchroom. Kadoka Area is one of the largest school districts by area in the state; many of our students will attend one of our Elementary/Middle School systems and then come together in their first year of high school. Add to that the diverse backgrounds of our families and the never-ending interests of teenagers in Generation Z. It can be a challenge to make students feel like they matter. Lunch is a bedrock for showing them what matters. Can they find a place to sit? Can they meet with their friends? As a lunch supervisor (yes, I supervise lunch as a principal), can you remember their name and make them feel better about themselves? No matter where you come from and what you believe, we try at Kadoka to let you have a seat at the table as much as possible in all instances. The lunchroom is the starting point of that.
Why emphasize passing times between classes and lunchtimes? School learning builds relationships. Passing and lunch are often the only times some of our kids will see or hear from specific teachers. If a student forges a relationship with a teacher, it must be serviced at some point each day; how is it possible to do that if they don’t have the student in class? Finding ways to get our staff and I in the hallways and lunch area to interact with our students is essential to building and maintaining a safe and welcoming culture for all who enter our building to enjoy.
It isn’t one thing in a school that builds a safe and welcoming culture. A lot of little things play into the formation. The culture must take advantage of the lunchroom to have the most success in a school and give kids a seat at the table. Secondarily, interaction in the short times between classes, and passing times, must be thought through as we help kids find themselves in a school.
Sincerely,
Mr. Lukens